


Perspective

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Star Wars Rewrites — Backstory [23]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Community: trope_bingo, Gen, Knights of the old republic references, Luke is a descendant of the Jedi Exile, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sad Luke, Well-Intentioned Extremist Snoke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 19:04:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Two beings, two translations.





	Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Language/Translation
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It’s on the island of Ach-To, away from the rest of the galaxy, that Luke Skywalker studies.

Luke studies, and the more he studies, the more he translates, the more he finds that doesn’t make sense. The more he finds that makes him wonder how the Jedi survived that long. It’s not like they haven’t stood for good, but at the same time, he can’t help but notice that the Jedi have made a lot of mistakes.

Some of them can’t even be called mistakes. Calling them mistakes would be putting it mildly, actually. A mistake is something like snapping at someone in anger, or forgetting something, or doing something reckless. Not going to war to defend innocents is far from a mistake. Mentally violating someone is far from a mistake. Trying to strip the Force from someone because you were scared of them, when they hadn’t even done anything wrong, is far from a mistake.

Luke knew of the stories of Bastila and Revan, of the Jedi Exile Arawn Sinn. But the texts he had (and of course it was the case; they were texts that were possibly revised, tweaked to erase any details that may be incriminating) never mentioned what exactly happened.

Luke finds himself stumbling to the edge of the cliff and vomiting. Thankfully, no one’s around to see or fall victim to his episode of vomiting, but he still feels sick. It’s enough to make him wonder, exactly, what else the texts are hiding.

***

While Luke’s studying the Jedi texts, Snoke’s studying them too. It’s distasteful, to go back to texts that Snoke hates, a reminder of when he was a Jedi Master and not the powerful Dark Sider he is now, but it’s necessary if only for his synthesis. His grand vision, of a galaxy without corruption. A balanced galaxy. Truly balanced. The Jedi thought balance could be skewed in their favor. They were wrong.

He’s looking over one particular tale, the tale of the Jedi Exile, when his apprentice enters. There’s something about that mask where he even looks like Revan, in a way — though he is Vader’s scion, and not Revan’s. In a way, though, they are like Revan. Believing in something greater than themselves.

“You summoned me, Supreme Leader?” He even sounds somewhat like Vader. Every day, he becomes more like his grandfather and Snoke could not be prouder of him.

"I have something for you to look over.”

They look over the tale of the Exile, and Ren says, “That is a very sad, strange story.”

“Is it not?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me,” Snoke says. “What kind of Jedi Order would regard going to war to fight corruption and bring order as a weakness? What kind of Jedi Order would turn on their own? _This_ is one of many things the Resistance is fighting for. Corruption. Fear. Abuse. This is what Skywalker represents, and this is why he must be destroyed. As long as Skywalker lives, corruption lives. Disorder. He may be hiding in the Unknown Regions like a coward, but corruption still lives.”

“If we kill him...” Ren trails off.

Snoke softens his voice. He can feel his apprentice’s grief too keenly; he remembers fighting against Maz Kanata and Yoda, and the pain that brought him. He hates the scars, not for their appearance, but for what they represent. And yet they teach a valuable lesson. Only the strong survive. Better to hurt another than be hurt first. And those you love will always find a way to betray you.

“It is a hard thing,” Snoke says. “But the right one. The moral one.”

Ren seems to be taking it in slowly. Snoke knows that his apprentice is quite the conflicted one, which is enough to make him wonder why. After all, conviction in all things is how they’ve come this far. Unfortunately, his apprentice also has too much compassion in him. Too much heart.

He’ll have to fix that in Ren.

***

It’s one night that the Exile herself, Arawn Sinn, visits Luke. She’s a beautiful woman, with brown hair in a high ponytail, dressed in green robes like she usually did. Luke knows that he’s her descendant; he just didn’t think that she would appear to him in that moment.

“You’re looking for something,” she said.

“I am. Answers.” Luke sighed. “I’m sorry that they did what they did to you. The Jedi.”

“I’ve already forgiven them,” Arawn says. “They were flawed beings. They gave me good and bad in equal measure.”

Luke has to be amazed at that. Even after what they did to her...

“What have you been studying?” Arawn says.

“The texts,” Luke says. “I need answers. Not just about the Jedi, but Snoke.”

Arawn looks sorrowful. Then she says, “Yes. Him. I suppose he was not so different from Kreia, in the end. They were both unhappy with their lot. But,” and here, her voice becomes more impassioned, “I would never, ever have even imagined that Snoke would use my teachings as a justification for genocide. All this time, I sought to create a better Jedi Order, free from the mistakes of the past. But he abused those teachings.” She looks at Luke, solemnly. “I’m sorry, Luke. I’m sorry you lost your nephew. I’m sorry for all of this.”

“It was Snoke’s choice,” Luke says.

“I know.” Arawn sits down. “But nonetheless, I feel responsible. In a way, I good as cost you your family.”

“You didn’t. Snoke did.”

“I know you’re looking for answers,” Arawn says. “I can’t give you concrete answers on what happened to your nephew, but I can assist you in what went wrong with the Jedi.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s the best I can do. Now, I might as well tell you everything...”


End file.
